Golf course yardage utilizing cellular phone

ABSTRACT

A cellular phone mounted player position as well as a hole position determining system for a golf course for use by players in playing the course is disclosed. Each of the cellular phone includes a monitor for displaying the golf course including each of the holes with its tee box, fairway, green, cup and hazards, as well as the position of the cellular phone unit on the course in real time. The distance between the target and the current position on a specific course of a golf club is measured when a player push the specific code number of a golf club followed by pushing the course number.

1. FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to yardage systems and more particularly to a new and improved golf course yardage and information system mounted on a cellular phone.

2. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Before starting play on an unfamiliar or infrequently played course, golfers typically familiarize themselves with the layout of each hole. This gives the golfer the knowledge at the tee box of a particular hole being played. Customarily, golf courses market informative books on the course in the pro shop, to indicate layout features for each hole and yardage from a few locations along the hole to the center of the green. Yardage markers typically are provided, so that the player will know the range from that point to the center of the green. These playing aids provide information on the hole layout, yardage from the ball to the hole, to estimate yardage from the ball to the center of the green. Such measures are by no means precise, but do enhance one's knowledge of the hole, and thereby, an opportunity to improve one's game. They also exact a cost—slowing the pace of play of every golfer behind the one or more who are familiarizing themselves with the course,

DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART

Various proposals have been made toward improving golf course information systems. The intent of these ostensible improvements has been to reduce the average player's score; to increase enthusiasm and speed of play; and to enhance the player's knowledge of the course regarding every hole, the yardage from the ball to the green. Proposals have included use of buried electrical wires in various layout configurations about the course for interaction with mobile overland components such the golf information system disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,044,634 to Dudley. Other proposals utilize radio direction finding or triangulation techniques, to inform the golfer of gross features of the course and distances from specific markers to the pin or flag for the hole being played such as those described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,703,444 to Storms, Jr. and U.S. Pat. No. 5,056,106 to Wang. U.S. Pat. No. 5,364,093 to Huston discloses a position and distance measuring system for a golf course that uses the capabilities of the existing U.S. government-sponsored Global Positioning System (GPS) which was established over the last 20 years with space satellites and ground based stations. A number of earth-orbiting satellites provide reference points from which to determine the position of a point on or near the earth, using the ground-based receivers. The orbits of these satellites are monitored by the ground station GPS receivers, and the travel times of signals received from the satellites are used to measure distance to each satellite. Each signal from a satellite is coded to permit the receiver to determine the elapsed time between transmission of the signal from the respective satellite and reception at the GPS receiver antenna, and thereby to calculate the distance as the product of that elapsed time and the speed of light. Cellular phone receivers are better at more convenience to use among other and hand-held versions of various, position and distance-measuring systems.

Distance measurements to three GPS satellites can accurately define the position of an object (i.e., that of the GPS receiver, whether of the stationary or portable type) on or near the surface of the earth. A fourth satellite provides a distance measurement that serves to verify clock timing within the GPS system. With several satellites in “view”, and through the use of a computer, the GPS receiver theoretically can calculate distances virtually instantaneously with great accuracy. Huston proposed a golf course GPS system which employs purely conventional differential GPS, which has found wide use to reduce errors in distance measuring systems. The differential GPS system broadcasts error correction information from a ground receiver of known location in the vicinity of the user.

Riedow U.S. Pat. No. 6,236,360 teaches golf course yardage and system information but does not teach of a cellular phone system. The numbers on phone board to indicate the numbers assigns to each golf holes (i.e., I-18)

It is a principal object of the present invention to provide a new and improved golf course yardage and information system utilizing a cellular phone.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Before summarizing the best mode presently contemplated for practicing the golf course yardage and information system of the invention, it bears emphasis that the present invention is to provide distances and information in the context of golf courses. A cellular phone mounted player position as well as a hole position determining system for a golf course for use by players in playing the course is disclosed. Each of the cellular phone includes a monitor for displaying the golf course including each of the holes with its tee box, fairway, green, cup and hazards, as well as the position of the cellular phone unit on the course in real time. The distance between the target and the current position on a specific course of a golf club is measured when a player push the specific code number of a golf club followed by pushing the course number.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a simplified diagram of a portion of the cellular phone system in use on a golf course, a block diagram of the principal components of a cellular phone-based system, and the visual display mounted on the cellular phone for viewing by the golfer.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT AND METHOD

FIG. 1 is a highlight a preferred embodiment of the cellular phone guided golfing yardage determination system. The satellite system (1) picks up the signals from golf course targets as well as a hand held cellular phone. The information received buy multiple satellites determines the location of the targets and the cellular phone. A computation station determines the distance between the cellular phone and the targets.

The system for determining the location of golf holes in a cellular phone includes a base station determination of yardage for being adapted to operate on a differential global positioning system (DGPS) in conjunction with GPS satellites that transmit GPS satellite signal information for use in determining the relative position of and distance between targeted points a golf course, the system further including: base stations located on golf course targets, and each of the hand-held cellular phone stations for determination of the yardage, the functions of the system including the transmission and reception of information between the base stations and each of the hand-held cellular phone remote stations.

The base station includes cellular phone for displaying the location of all remote stations in real time such that the remote stations including lent not limited to the golf green holes can be observed while in transit.

The distance between the target and the current position is measured by pushing the golf club's code number followed by the number of the golf course, for example, 17. 

1. A system for determining the location of golf holes in a cellular phone, the system including a base station determination of yardage for being adapted to operate on a differential global positioning system (DGPS) in conjunction with GPS satellites that transmit GPS satellite signal information for use in determining the relative position of and distance between targeted points a golf course, the system further including: base stations located on golf course targets, and each of the hand-held cellular phone stations for determination of the yardage, the functions of the system including the transmission and reception of information between the base stations and each of the hand-held cellular phone remote stations.
 2. The system of claim 1 wherein the base station includes cellular phone for displaying the location of all remote stations in real time such that the remote stations including lent not limited to the golf green holes can be observed while in transit.
 3. The system of claim 1, wherein the distance between the target and the current position is measured by pushing the golf course's code number followed by the number of the golf hole. 